Gone
by Oroko
Summary: The day Juudai leaves for Duel Academia, Yuuki Harumi finds herself dealing with the hardest experience a parent is ever faced with.


Hay guys, look! I'm alive! And I've been writing stuff, I swear. Well…kind of. Anyway, this here is actually a side story to a longer piece that I'm still working on (and have been for longer than I should by now), which accounts for the OCs. I'll put that up someday, but until then, here's a ficlet for you guys. Enjoy.

* * *

"Juu-chan! Wake up, quickly!" 

Juudai groaned into his pillow.

"Whaaaat?" he whined, his voice muffled. "I thought the new semester didn't start until tomorrow…"

"There's a letter from Duel Academia," Harumi told her half-conscious son with a hurried, panicked voice. "You passed the entrance examination!"

Juudai shot bolt-upright in his futon. "I got in?" he asked, suddenly energetic.

"Hurry and get dressed."

Juudai rubbed his eye. "Huh? How come?" He mumbled, the sleep quickly setting back in after his burst of excitement.

"There's still a field test you have to pass. You've got to be at Kaibaland in two hours!"

"What!" he cried, his eyes widening as he scampered out of his futon and clumsily fumbling into his closet. "Shouldn't they tell us something like that sooner?"

"It's been sitting in our mailbox for days. We're lucky that Micchan happened to find it this morning."

Juudai groaned. His family had a terrible habit of never checking its mail, considering that they rarely received any at all, save for bills. Of course, he had been eagerly checking the mailbox twice a day for weeks after taking the written examination, but after sixteen days and still no word, his hope was significantly depleted and he had just given up. It wasn't as though he were particularly confident in his test score, anyway; he'd expected to be tested on his ability to _duel_, not to regurgitate useless textbook information. Of course…now that he knew that there _was_ a field test, the system was making a bit more sense.

…Why, _why_ had he stopped checking the mail? Juudai had waited his entire life for an opportunity like Duel Academia. He should be_ ready_ for this day!

"Oh, look Juu-chan…" said Harumi from outside his closet door. "They've listed your ranking, too."

"Ranking?" he asked, peeking out of his closet, half-dressed.

"On the written exam," she said. "Let's see…it looks like you're number 110."

Juudai laughed sheepishly; it was about what he expected. At least he wasn't dead last. He pulled his jacket sleeve over his arm and emerged from the closet; Harumi had told him before that it was imperative to wear something nice to make a good impression on the first day, so he decided on his middle school uniform—it was the best he had.

"Ready?"

He nodded, bolting past her and into the next room of their undersized apartment, where a slender woman with dark hair was standing at the stove, still in her pajamas with a cigarette balanced between her lips.

"Finally up, are you?" she said to Juudai without bothering to face him. "Morning."

"Mornin', Michiru," he greeted hurriedly. He gave her a brief hug, which he used as an excuse to duck under her arm and snatch a piece of toast from the plate she was preparing for herself. Michiru decided to let it slide; it was probably all the breakfast he'd have time for, anyway.

"Rumi fixed your lunch," she said, indicating a neatly-prepared, albeit meager-looking bento on the other side of the counter, which he snatched up, then scampered across the room to the table, where his deck rested. He tucked his cards safely into his back pocket and threw open the front door.

"_Itte kimasu!_" he cried.

"Just a second, Juu-chan…"

He blinked. Harumi smiled at him, with his worn green backpack slung over her shoulder, stuffed with something heavy-looking.

"Why don't you let me walk you to the train station?"

* * *

"_We're sorry, but the 10:30 train to Domino City has been delayed. We apologize for the inconvenience._" 

"Oh, come _on_!" Juudai whined at the automated voice. "I'm already late!"

Harumi rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you can still make it."

He sighed.

"Here."

He blinked as Harumi pushed his backpack into his hands.

"What's this?" he mumbled, unzipping the bag. His eyes widened as the sharp corner of an aged-looking duel disk poked out.

"You'll need one of those for the field test," said Harumi. "It's a much older model, but it's functional, and it should be compatible with the newer ones."

He stared at it for a moment, lost for words.

"This…these things cost a fortune, don't they?"

Harumi shook her head.

"This was mine once. I received it when I was invited to enter the Battle City tournament, ten years ago." Her eyes narrowed sadly. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wish you could have a new one for a day like this, but…"

"No way!"

She blinked, surprised by the ecstatic look on Juudai's face.

"You mean this thing has seen Battle City action? _Awesome_!"

She watched, wordless, as Juudai energetically strapped the aged contraption to his arm, watching with fascination as its automatic mechanisms whizzed, its parts unfolded and its lights flickered to life. Excited, he struck a pose.

"How do I look?"

Harumi giggled. "Like the Duel King, Juu-chan."

He grinned widely, chuckling at his own antics. Then, suddenly, his expression changed, replacing his goofy face with a rare look of sincerity.

"Harumi…thank you."

Unable to restrain herself, Harumi threw her arms around him, biting back tears. Her little boy…he was…was…

"Oh, _Juu-chan!_"

Juudai laughed sheepishly, tugging at her blouse.

"H-hey, come on now…"

"Oh…I'm sorry," said Harumi, a trace of a sniffle laced into her words. "I don't mean to embarrass you, it's just…oh dear, look, the train is here! Get going!"

She gave him a gentle shove towards the train. "Michiru and I will send your things. Now hurry!"

He nodded, tucking the duel disk back into his backpack and sprinting for the train…then stopped. He turned, shuffled back towards Harumi and planted a kiss on her cheek, then wheeled around and sprinted across the station and dove through the closing train doors.

And with that, he was gone. Gone to spend three long years in boarding school, dozens of miles away from her…it weren't as though he needed her anymore, after all.

Harumi bit her lip. If there were any good element to Juudai's being gone, it was that he at least wouldn't have to see her cry.


End file.
